jpm8920

Well, I ' ve never been faced with a clear cut, but the spike I shot this year was eating tree tops from a cut down tree, so it can' t be that bad.

GonePostalWV

Well, I guess my plan is to hunt my regular stand Monday morning, drop by the logging site and bring donuts and a thermos of fresh coffee from camp for the security guard and the loggers sometime around 3pm.

They said that it would take them about 4 weeks to clearcut the 45 acres... so even though I know there is a certain amount of prep work they have to do before they actually cut, there should be a clearing developing during the 2nd week, I' d think. One other thing in my favor is that even though we are a " bucks only" county... I managed to snag one of the doe permits when they had there lottery drawing for this year.

Heck, maybe I' ll end up having a great season and fill all my tags <g>. The weather is just now starting to change, and with a more positive attitude thanks to you alls post' s helping out it looks like it may end up being a really good season after all.

BIGSCRAPE

In my limited experience in this type of situation I have found that chainsaw = dinner bell. It blew me away the first time I was in the bush cutting white cedar and after felling trees for 45min to an hour I shut the saw down and there were deer eating the newly accessable foliage. They had no problems with the saw at all. They did leave pretty quickly once I shut the saw down and started paying attention to them, but they did not go far. They were small fawns and doe' s. I have had this happen multiple times but I have never seen a buck come in while I was there. (probably had a button buck but never noticed)

I' m not sure how they will take to clear cutting and heavy truck traffic but at least there will be the potential for new food on the ground.

Good luck and let us know.

BuckSecrets

Hey GonePostalWV,

I wanted to give you a heads up. Unless you have already talked to the loggers and they don' t have a problem, you may not want to let them know you are hunting near the operation. I can basically guarantee that they will tell you to hunt elsewhere on the property because of the high risk of you getting injured on their job. It' s too much of an insurance risk. I never wanted anyone on my jobs because you wouldn' t believe the lack of common sense some people have.

I was heaping up logs into a pile once with the blade of the skidder, put it in reverse and looked back and some guy was trying to sneak behind me with his truck. There was only about a foot between me and him, and a foot on the other side to the woodline. I could tell you many more. And once they know you are thinking about it they will most likely tell the president of your club, who will issue a statement to all members to stay away from the logging area. I' ve cut big clubs before and have seen it happen many times.

Your best bet anyway is to locate the bedding area and ambush them between there and the logging site. So you really don' t need to be actually in the clearcut. Since I' ve told you to look up and pay attention to hanging branches and such, you could stalk to the edge of the cut fairly safely if you wanted to. Your idea of bringing them coffee is great, but I just wanted to let you know that most logging operations frown on having anyone around, you can' t always see everywhere around a big machine, so anyone on the ground should have knowledge of what the operator is doing and what his next move will be if you follow me.

I just didn' t want you to ruin your chances!

Mark
http://www.buckhuntersecrets.com

GonePostalWV

Mark,

My basic plan was originally going to be to let them know I planned to hunt that area, but I may change things based on your suggestions. The area they plan to cut is parralel to a side road on the property, that in turn follows and is adjacent to an approx. 5-10 yard wide shallow stream. ( The stream sits an average of 20 yards, and downhill from the road also ). They are more or less just going to cut anything to the left of the roadway for , I' m guessing, about 1/2 to 1 mile (not sure of the width) ... they did mention they plan to put the tops in " windrows" , if I' m saying that right <g>.

I believe the bedding areas are across the stream from where they plan to cut. If it was safe, I planned to hike up the stream about 2 hours before " end of the workday" , find a convenient spot with good cover for me, and good field of view and try to head off anything heading to the new clear cut area after the cutting stopped. (Of course , making sure I don' t take a shot anywhere in the direction of the worksite. ) This way, I would be safely away from the chance of an accident in the cutting zone... and would be one less thing for the workers to worry about.

I' d rather keep peace with the loggers, but as a second option I could alternately just slowly " stalk" up the road working my way around their equipment " after" everythings shutdown for the day , if daylight permits. (I' m thinking they would probably work a 10 hour day or less... if so, they should quit about an hour before dark. ) I know that I' d be much more likely to spook a feeding deer this way... but if they are watching the loggers pack up to head out... maybe I could just blend in to the mix and luck into something <g>. For insurance and security purposes I' m thinking the roadway and any landing areas are most likely going to be offlimits, so this option may be an unlikely way to go.

Not being sure how far along they are on the logging makes my plans preliminary at best. Beings that I' m 2 hours drive from camp and out of phone contact with the other club members forces me to think thru my options in advance. However I do it, I' m definately feeling much more positive about my chances.

(On a side note... I hope I' m able to make it til Monday morning <g>. I' m a mail carrier here in WV, as my screen name shows... and driving back to the station from my route I had to follow a fellow who must have just been coming back from the woods. The " dead" giveaway was the fact he was hauling his four wheeler behind his pickup.. and it was safely " braced" onto the trailer by a 4point, a 6 point, and a really nice looking 10point buck <g>. Heck, maybe my wife wouldn' t mind too much if I skipped Thanksgiving dinner this year and just headed to the woods for a change <g>.)

Nomercy

People get too worked up about noise impact, for no good reason. No, you' re not going to get a deer when you' re riding a dozer, but it' s quite possible to venture 200yrds from a worksite and get a deer...I in fact have done just that, my father, uncle, and grandfather were clearing trees and cutting firewood for sale, running a tractor, bobcat, and chainsaw, in addition to hollering and running about, I was only 250yrds from the area they were working in and picked the best of 10 grazing does...in fact, I was able to use the fact that they were so intent on the machinery to my advantage to stalk in quite close over open wheatfield. I' ve also gotten an archery deer from a stand that hung 50yrds from my rifle range that I and two friends had shot on that morning.

In concordia Kansas last season, those two friends got their rifle deer because a automated fencing crew started working and pushed the deer out of a bedding area into the open, they' d set up expecting that, so the crew worked to their advantage even.

(BTW, that automated fencing crew was amazing, there was one truck with an auger arm and a couple guys planting hedge posts, followed by another truck with two guys on back, one controlling and the other loading a hydraulic post driving arm, load a post and the arm swings it into place and pushes it into the ground, then another truck followed with five spools of barbed wire mounted sideways, I' m guessing there was some type of tensioner to it too, because there were two guys walking behind tying the wires, they ran about five miles of fence in two days.)

skeeter 7MM

Here it is illegal to hunt near logging crews, but I will tell you it doesn' t really affect the animals. I know many a logger who see more big deer, moose and elk while operating their equipment than most will see in a lifetime. So if legal and within safe distance i doubt it will really hamper your hunt, the bonus as stated is to come with new growth in the years to come.

121553

Bigscrape, BINGO!!! A chainsaw means food to deer. Two months ago I went out back here to get a truck load of firewood and fell a fir tree, maybe 120 ft high and it was loaded with this moss, after trimming the limbs and bucking it up, Maw Squaw and I went into the truck to eat a sandwich and drink some coffee, when we got done 15 minutes later, there was a doe and and yearling feeding 15 yrds behind the truck on the moss from the tree we have just fallen.When I am in the bush, now I look for these blowdowns and they are loaded with signs.
Skeeter, hope your season going great. The way they do logging here is they auction off sections here in the forest, I am allowed to hunt anywhere in the forest with no resrictions assiociated with the logging activeity, other than not being allowed in that sector at that time, just gotta be aware of your target and beyond, Good Luck, Bobby

skeeter 7MM

Thanks bobby good to see you and same to you. I got some meat and bone nothing spectacular (still a few days left) but still having a blast[8D].